MOSCOW - Russia's Communist Party chief on Friday launched his harshest attack against President Vladimir Putin to date, accusing him of betraying the country to the West, ruining the national economy and driving people to poverty.
"The country is dying, and Putin is going around surrendering the nation's geopolitical conquests instead of defending them," Communist Party chief Gennady Zyuganov said in a lengthy interview on the Echo of Moscow radio station.
Zyuganov's attack followed this week's move by the pro-Kremlin centrist majority to strip Communists of leadership in seven commitees in the lower house, the State Duma. Zyuganov harshly assailed the move Friday, saying the Kremlin had broken its earlier promise to respect an earlier agreement on distribution of top Duma positions.
The Communists have lost their one-time domination in the lower house in parliamentary elections in December 1999, but retained a sizeable presence and controlled several key committees. After being stripped of their leadership in eight committees, they resigned from another two in protest.
Communist Duma speaker Gennady Seleznyov has also been under pressure to resign, but he has moved to secure his position by rushing to meet with Putin. He told reporters Friday that Putin encouraged him to stay on the job.
Speaking to reporters Thursday, Putin that there was no need to replace the speaker and said that the Communists, who received 20 million votes during the last election have the right to be properly represented, the Interfax news agency reported.
Zyuganov came in second in March 2000 presidential election, and his party has remained in opposition to the government. Zyuganov's party has opposed the Cabinet's liberal economic bills, but largely avoided personal attacks against Putin.
On Friday, Zyuganov said that Putin acts like former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev, "saying one thing and doing exactly opposite."
"He spoke about increasing our global influence, but NATO bases were set up in Central Asia and U.S. Army colonels arrived in Tbilisi," Zyuganov said. He was referring to Putin's approval of the U.S. military deployment in Central Asia for action in Afghanistan and the U.S. decision to send military instructors to another ex-Soviet republic of Georgia to training its troops for possible operations against terrorists allegedly linked to the al-Qaida network.
"This is an inept policy," Zyuganov said. "It's a pity that the person at the helm can't keep his word and govern efficiently."
Zyuganov predicted that mounting consumer and housing prices would fuel public protests, and promised that the Communist Party would organize massive anti-government protests on May 1 and Victory Day on May 9. The demands would likely include a call for early parliamentary elections he said.